


peace, love, and laughter

by LiveLaughLovex



Category: Scandal (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Established Relationship, F/M, Ignores Seasons 6 - 7, New Year's Eve fluff, there are cuddles and cute babies abound
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-01-01
Packaged: 2019-10-01 22:41:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17252750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiveLaughLovex/pseuds/LiveLaughLovex
Summary: Jake and Olivia spend New Year's Eve at home, half-asleep and happier than they've ever been about it.





	peace, love, and laughter

**Author's Note:**

> Have all the Olake fluff! I hope you enjoy!

Olivia collapsed onto the sofa alongside Jake with an exhausted sigh. “Evie’s down for the count,” she reported. “How’d you do with Amalia?”

“Well, she’s in her crib,” Jake sighed, his arm wrapping around her shoulder. “But she is not sleeping. She despises sleep. She was staring up at the mobile when I left her.” He pressed a kiss to the side of her head. “Do you remember what it’s like to be well-rested?”

“Not particularly,” Olivia mumbled into his chest. “It’s like a fond memory from many years gone by.” She smiled tiredly when that drew a chuckle from her husband. “They’re only five days old,” she told him – and herself – as she yawned. “It’ll get better eventually. It’s got to, right?”

“I’d hope so,” he muttered in response, groaning quietly when one of the girls began fussing, their cries audible through the monitor. “It’s my turn,” he mumbled, carefully depositing Olivia on the sofa and then pushing himself up and off the cushions. “Be back in a minute.”

Olivia nodded once, then closed her eyes and cuddled beneath the pile of blankets he’d left behind.

It was New Year’s Eve in the Pope-Ballard house. They still had several hours left until the ball dropped in New York City, but Olivia couldn’t see any of them staying up past ten. It was exhausting work, being a new parent. It was even more exhausting when there was more than one brand-new baby to contend with.

Evelina Joy and Amalia Grace Ballard had come into their lives on the twenty-sixth, arriving at exactly twelve-oh-two in the morning. It was if they’d not wanted their mother to face endless mocking from her friends for having “Christmas babies.” Olivia and Jake had never known such happiness. They were also pretty sure that they’d never again know what peace and quiet was.

“She’s awake,” Jake sighed as he returned to the room a few minutes later, their firstborn daughter in his arms. Evelina was bundled in a muslin swaddle in addition to the knitted blanket she’d received from her grandmother prior to her birth. “I figured it was better to get her, hope it keeps her from waking up Miss Mali.”

“That’s always a good idea,” Olivia agreed tiredly, leaning over once her husband had set down to press a kiss atop the baby’s head. “They’re eventually going to stop hating sleep, yeah?”

“We can hope,” Jake replied dryly. “We can pray. Let’s just go ahead and do both.”

“Agreed.” Olivia cut herself off when she heard the telltale sound of her other daughter’s wails. “Well, apparently they want to make it a party,” she sighed as she stood from the sofa. “You hold down the fort, all right?” she told her daughter playfully. “Make sure Daddy’s paying attention to what’s going on in Times Square.”

“Yeah, I’m not even going to attempt to make any promises,” Jake informed her as she walked away. “Because I know, for a fact, that I’d end up breaking them.”

Amalia was content the moment she was lifted into her mother’s arms, which, Olivia supposed, was a good thing. She made her way downstairs with the baby, doing her best not to make too much noise in hopes that, even if the girls weren’t sleeping, they’d at least be relatively tranquil until they finally passed out.

“What’d I miss?” she asked as she rounded the corner and reentered the living room.

Jake glanced away from the screen. “Some country singer,” he reported, running his hand up and down Evelina’s small back as she began fussing. “Nothing worth crying over, I promise.”

“At this point, the only thing I’m going to be crying over is my lack of sleep.” Olivia settled onto the sofa comfortably, her knees brought up to her chest. She carefully propped little Amalia against them. “You ready to get your New Year on, Mali?” she asked gently, smiling as her daughter blinked up at her. “I’m going to take that as a yes.”

“Do you remember what Fitz told us when we said we were having twins?” Jake asked suddenly.

“That sleep was going to become a precious thing?” Olivia replied dryly. “Yes, I do, and I would just like to say that I firmly believe he was right.”

“Not that. Well, yeah, that too, but…” Jake trailed off, smiling down at the baby he held. “That we’d feel like our world was being put back together twice as fast the moment we met them?”

“Oh. Yeah, he did say that, didn’t he? I blame his poetic ways on the whole Rhodes Scholar thing,” Olivia commented, lifting Amalia into her arms and pressing a kiss to her plump little cheek when the baby girl began to fuss.

“It’s true though, isn’t it?” Jake pointed out.

“Yeah,” Olivia sighed, her cheek pressing to the top of her daughter’s head. “It really is.”

They listened to the commentary onscreen in New York for a few more minutes before Jake spoke again. “I know we’re both zombies right now, and passing out is honestly favorable to staying up until midnight,” he smiled when Olivia scoffed amusedly at that, “but I have to say, I much prefer this New Year’s Eve to last.”

Olivia nodded as she recalled the previous year’s final day, which they’d spent apart after having a screaming match for reasons neither of them could remember. “Anything would be better than that,” she agreed, her head falling against his shoulder when he moved closer.

Evelina chose that moment to yawn, making both of her parents laugh quietly. “They’re going to keep it interesting,” Jake commented, turning his head to press a kiss to the side of his wife’s face. “Hey,” he murmured after a few moments.

“Yeah?” she replied, half-asleep as her eyes drifted closed, though her tight grip on Amalia didn’t slip in the slightest. Motherly instincts, she supposed.

“There is no one else on this planet I’d rather be sleep-deprived with.”

Olivia laughed quietly at that. “Agreed.”

“Happy almost New Year, Olivia,” he murmured.

She smiled. “Happy almost New Year, Jake.”


End file.
